Aftermath - Chapter Seven: Judge Tyrest

[silberstreif]

Universe: Till all are one
Beta: Starfire201
Continuation: AU, G1
Genre: Adventure, drama
Characters: Judge Tyrest, Prowl, Jazz, Sunflare

Summary:  After all, he knew them well. When he had first met Prowl and Jazz, in the middle of the riots that would lead to so much more, he had seen the glimmer of greatness in their optics and took the time to talk to each of them for a breem.

7. Tyrest

Tyrest stood in front of the Hall of Justice, contemplating if he really should walk in. It was a rhetorical question only, as his position as the Lord High Judge of Cybertron didn't allow him to turn away now.

Still, just once Tyrest wished he could.

On a sign of his, the grand doors to the Hall opened and they walked in, the two Lower Judges behind him. Every mech in the crowd stood in a silent show of respect to the law. Ignoring them, he slowly walked to his seat and with a sigh of relief sat down. His pistons became older with every vorn, and this trial was slowly but surely sapping all of his remaining strength.

He prayed to Primus that it would be over soon.

His optics wandered over the crowd of tense observers, the anxious witnesses of the last several orns, the focused lawyers and of course the accused – who as always looked very calm. As if the verdicts that were towering above their helmets didn't exist.

The bell rang and he stood up again with a hidden groan. The hall fell quiet as every single optic focused on him.

"Welcome, citizens, to the thirteenth orn of the trial of the bondmates Prowl and Jazz," he began, the words familiar by now. "May Primus be here with us in this orn and guide our words, until the truth shines in all of our sparks. May our sparks connect to each other, form a bond of siblings so this hall shall never be touched by war and peace reigns. Let honour be our path, mercy our guide and love our goal." He breathed for a moment, waiting for the words to echo in the hall, then he continued: "Let us all remember, in Primus' name, now and forever: till all are one."

The crowd answered and the ancient promise shook the hall: "Till all are one."

Tyrest knew the words the promise was repeated by the dozens of mechs outside of this hall, by the thousands that watched at home or in masses on the streets, some with loud confidence, some whispering it in quiet reverence. As always this knowledge gave him a rush of unity.

As the sound faded away, everyone sat down.

The first accusation of the orn went as the 54 accusations before. He read it, and the lawyers of the state highlighted the worst details and pleaded for a degree of penalty. More often than not, it was the highest possible one.

They did their job.

The other side, though... his optics wandered to the young seeker-lawyer again, who again and again went through the right motions, which amounted to barely more than to accept the sentence with dignity and to correct any and all bureaucratic mistakes of the opposing counsel.

Of which there were amusingly many.

Tyrest suspected that Sunflare's clients had forbidden him from doing his job properly. It said something about the young lawyer, that he tried to defend them as best as he could anyway – through the bureaucratic way, if he wasn't allowed to do it the normal one.

Case 55 was an ugly one. It told about experiments on an abandoned asteroid, dubious orders, many vanished victims and one spectacular explosion that destroyed all files and remaining mechs on said asteroid. Witnesses were rare, and the ones that spoke were in the end a mere supplier and a technician who had never stepped into the laboratories.

"Defendants Prowl and Jazz," he said, "would you please explain why you gave the order to destroy the asteroid without evacuating a single mech?"

Jazz didn't move, or raise his head from where he had rested it on the table. Coupled with the dimmed visor, it looked as if he had fallen into recharge. Tyrest doubted that. No one who had lived that long in the shadows would be capable of such a feat in a room with dozens of hostile bots present.

Prowl, on the other hand, was alert as always and shook his head. "No."

"Defendants, you are aware that any explanation would lower your sentence?" he asked for the 55^th time. It got repetitive. He was missing the other trials with tears, emotions and surprises.

Prowl's mouth twitched. Maybe he had caught on to Tyrest's frustrations. "Yes, High Judge. We know."

The same answer as the 55 times before.

Looking back at his files, he could only sigh. They only had the records to prove that there hadn't been an evacuation. And besides the rumours there was nothing that spoke about horrifying experiments. Certainly, no victims had been found to speak up here and now.

"Defendants, are you saying you blew up the asteroid together with the research facilities in the full knowledge of how many mechs you would kill?"

Prowl folded his hands together. "Yes."

But for once Tyrest wouldn't back down that easily. He was the Judge. His goal was to find out the truth, and to apply the law, not to accept what he was told. "Did you consider an evacuation?" he asked, already aware of the answer.

After all, he knew them well.

When he had first met Prowl and Jazz, in the middle of the riots that would lead to so much more, he had seen the glimmer of greatness in their optics and took the time to talk to each of them for a breem.

Their second meeting was many vorns later. The war had been still young, and most had still believed in a quick end. Not Tyrest though and so he had tried to advertise the idea of a common set of standards, which both sides wouldn't breach. Far later, they became known as the Tyrest Accords. Prowl and Jazz had already been high-ranking officers and the glimmer had turned into a blaze. Tyrest had been horrified by their fanaticism and the resulting ruthlessness.

Over the course of the war, he met them every few decavorns in negotiations, meetings and even by chance, and saw these flames dimming, until only the sharp precise need of what had to be done was left. That had been the moment when he had feared them most. Feared that this need might stem from their former blind belief rather than facts. He had worried needlessly. They turned to knowledge as a guide, and transformed it into action and possibility.

It was a peculiar way to wisdom. Fast, but full of sacrifices and pain.

But as deep as they felt, as great as their wisdom had become, the old ruthlessness never left them again. Yet, they had never been hasty. They would consider all angles – and then decide.

"Yes," admitted Prowl slowly.

Tyrest nearly smiled – he had them! -, but instead he asked neutrally: "And what did you decide?"

Would he lie? Prowl abhorred lies, but he was far from above them. The Praxian didn't move for a long moment, in which Tyrest noticed that Jazz's visor got lighter. Bond-communication. Maybe he had upset them more than he had thought. Good.

Finally, Prowl gave Tyrest a slow nod. A show of respect to Tyrest: "We decided that the evacuation of the victims would be possible, but that they were in no condition at all to join the Autobot army. Or in any case willing to. As such they had no worth to us as Autobot soldiers and we disregarded any further plans of evacuation."

Truth, Tyrest thought with an internal shudder, while an outcry went through the hall. Or at least, it was partially the truth.

The evidence was here, the confessions, too. Despite his personal doubts, he was bound by the law. And the law was clear.

Four breems later, after a short discussion with the Lower Judges and the official test run of their verdict through the super-computer Aequitas, he rose to proclaim it:

"The court has decided! In case 55 against the Defendants Prowl and Jazz, they have been found guilty as charged. The sentence is spark-extraction for 24 vorns and a complete recoding of their morality sections of their personalities. So mote it be, till all are one."

And again the crowd answered.

Not that this was the actual sentence Prowl and Jazz would serve. It was common to trial every accusation apart, and in the end to let Aquetitas calculate a fitting one-time punishment for all the crimes as to not make it possible that a mech would labor into all eternity without learning anything and growing more and more bitter. They had learned from past mistakes.

It followed a short break of one breem for everyone. Tyrest remained sitting where he was, his frame didn't allow for unnecessary activities anymore.

Instead he chose to observe the many various mechs in the Hall, how they mingled and talked to each other, all so very excited and hopeful. Chief of them all, Sunflare who in every single break pulled out his datapads and studied them furiously – this time even more than usual. From the side, Prowl and Jazz were observing their lawyer with indulgent smiles.

Once again, Tyrest was painfully reminded of the fact that he was old. Old enough to look at the bondmates and their lawyer and to see mechlings and a sparkling playing at life. Old enough to know that this picture was utterly wrong. Even old enough that death had turned into a friend that hasn't visited in a far too long time. And yet would probably visit the two accused far too soon.

Now, most mechs thought that at some age one might stop caring. Tyrest would agree, if not for the fact that despite seeking objectivity in all, it never had happened to him. Instead he had begun to love the whole mess that his race was, full of life and possibilities, ever changing, always striving.

And while not two mechs were ever the same, he had learned to understand them and their view of the world. This was what made him such a good judge and and he liked to think that this also was the reason why no one had protested when he had been given the title of the Lord High Judge. A position which not only made him the highest judicial instance, but also made him one of the four pillars of the Prime – the four to decide if a Prime was fit to rule or not.

His gaze wandered to the hidden balconies above, knowing very well that they all were occupied and yet in none was their Prime. Optimus Prime had chosen so far to ignore the trials, beyond the hundreds of written witness statements he had given.

To see his friends and most trusted counsellors like this must have pained their leader immensely. Still, as much as he understood, the High Judge wished Optimus Prime had come. It would've sent a sign.

The break ended and Sunflare straightened in sudden obvious anxiety.

Tyrest looked down at case 56 and understood. Maybe, finally, he would hear a few new answers. "Charge 56. The starvation of 235 neutrals in sector D-T3-2342 on planet Urix. The Defendants have pleaded," he could feel the anxiety in the Hall skyrocketing,"innocent. Defendants, do you repeat your plea?"

"We do," said both with a smile.

As expected.

The lawyers of the opposing side listed the accusations in minute detail – and Sunflare started to take their evidence apart with a vigour that reminded Tyrest of an unleashed cybergator.

"There might be evidence the colony on Urix starved, but there is no proof at all that my clients are responsible for this!" argued Sunflare passionately.

The other lawyers weren't impressed by the retort: "Reports show that Jazz and Autobots under his orders attacked the energon transports to the planet three times in a row. Three times, that's deliberate!"

"The reports only show that he sent groups with the order to attain energon in the sector, not that they robbed the transports." Sunflare smirked. "And am I wrong in saying that you aren't able to provide a single witness of those robberies?"

Of course, he wasn't wrong. Witnesses were mysteriously scarce in this whole trial. Probably not surprising if one considered the former positions of the accused and the secrecy level they had operated under. At least that was the official explanation.

"There are dozen of witnesses!"

"Of mechs who were on the transports. Of the mechs who were robbed, but not a single one of the robbers or any other mech who has seen any connection between the robbers and the Autobots under Jazz's command."

The other side was forced to admit the truth of this – first strike for Sunflare. Tyrest smiled at the seeker lawyer who was now defending the one case of his life. These joors would make or break his career.

What puzzled Tyrest was the accused bondmates' behaviour. At first he had assumed that them pleading innocent was simply their payment for Sunflare. After all, taking on such a young and inexperienced lawyer and then not to let him speak a word might have led many mechs to the conclusion that he wasn't able to defend them. A notion was now having the chance to disprove spectacularly.

If this were true, though, Prowl and Jazz would observe Sunflare with something close to neutrality. Instead, for the first time since he saw them in this Hall, Prowl's wings seemed tense and Jazz sat nearly straight in his chair. They were worried.

About what?

After all, Sunflare was doing a marvellous job and his career would no doubt be great after this. And this case wouldn't make a noticeable difference in their final sentence anyway...

Sunflare was now going into the details of the various reports, the time stamps, the designation that signed them and took them all apart. It was nearly funny how the well practised front of the lawyers suddenly got cracks and let chaos show through. They had underestimated the young seeker and were now paying dearly.

Watching him, Tyrest reviewed all what he knew about the accused and frowned slightly as he realised that he was missing more than he had thought.

Prowl and Jazz had prepared for this trial for a long, long time. Shortly after the war and again after Starscream's fall laws had been written anew. He himself had always been one of the major influences. Less known was the fact that Prowl had been the counsellor for Prime's opinions about the laws – and that more than once a law had been rejected because of Prowl's disapproval.

The laws about crimes and war crimes had especially concerned the mech... it must be a strange feeling to be tried by the very laws you've helped to write, Tyrest mused.

But their power and influence hadn't ended or even begun there. If one were to consider their connections and favours owed alone, they would be two of the most influential mechs on the planet. But if one added their political clout and the monetary influence through dozens of investments made directly after the war... Tyrest was maybe one of the very few mechs alive who understood the amount of power they had over Cybertronian society.

Without a doubt, this power had been the reason why they had known that this orn would come. He had seen photos of Jazz and Prowl's apartment from after their arrest and stared at them for a long time until realising what had disturbed him. Their apartment had been empty of anything meaningful to their sparks. No photos, no small souvenirs, no anything. That they had only taken a few books and a single game with them had spoken volumes.

"Objection!" called Sunflare out and interrupted the speaking lawyer. "Even if we suppose that my clients sent those mechs – it would have happened with a very different intention than pure malice!"

The lawyer, an older mech who had opted for a long tail instead of legs, huffed. "To interrupt energon transports three times in a row, knowing exactly what would happen to the colony, cannot be anything but malice!"

"But it is," insisted Sunflare with an earnest expression, that was trained out of lawyers before their first vorn was over. It made his face young, but much more believeable. "Just before the famine, several energon plants had been destroyed and in other sectors transports had also been attacked. As a result part of the Autobot army was starving."

Sunflare wouldn't have needed to say more, as the sudden ripple of understanding through nearly every mech in the hall was more than enough. Even Tyrest, who had known that there must have been good reasons in most cases, felt his spark become heavier with sadness.

"Are you saying, lawyer Sunflare, that they stole the energon to fuel their own soldiers?" he asked.

"If they did it, then only to fuel their own people, yes." Sunflare's optics were determined. "But there is more! The Autobots were at war at the same time, a very energy devouring activity as we all know. As such the Autobots would've died much faster alone through this factor. Also, the Decepticons would've used such an opportunity without hesitation, bringing certain death to even more Autobots."

Tyrest nodded. "So, you're saying they were forced to attack the transporters?"

A trick-question. By law, they weren't forced at all to do this, it had still been their own decision. It would only be a huge mitigating circumstance, which would lower any sentence significantly.

Sunflare didn't fall for it. "I'm saying that in this situation, they had very limited space to decide," the seeker explained. "And decide they must. After all, even if they had done nothing, mechs would've died."

And the mitigating evidence grew. Tyrest would've congratulated the young lawyer if they had been alone.

"They decided to sacrifice innocent civilians in favour of their own cause!" interrupted one of the other lawyers.

"Sacrifice?" asked Sunflare. "Not at all! They decided to see every spark as equal and took the option in which the least amount of sparks would extinguish through a famine."

The seeker was good, very good. That was the trouble with truth, there were always more versions than belief.

The lawyer scowled. "You have no proof of your theory and even if it's true, this doesn't absolve them."

"I have more proof than your side does," argued Sunflare. "But if you look at their life later, wouldn't you say they saw worth in every kind of spark? No matter if it had been Neutral, Decepticon or Autobot?" This question from a mech who was the creation of a Decepticon and a Neutral... Sunflare subtly used himself as evidence. "I'm not even saying that my clients did it. I'm saying that someone chose between starving a neutral colony of 253 mechs, in result killing 67 mechs of which 13 were sparklings and starving 284 Autobots, which probably would have killed them all."

It still made them guilty by law, argued the lawyers.

"Which law?" asked Sunflare with a smirk. "We're now holding to mechs to account by laws that hadn't even been written yet when the supposed crime happened!" He pointed up to the High Judge. "Once, the only set of law that was still in effect and enforced was the Tyrest Accord. How can we expect mechs to act in accordance to laws that don't exist? The answer is simple: We can't."

It was an good argument, but doomed to fail. After all, the Tyrest Accord had been written in a manner that had given both factions lots of interpretation room. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to get them all to agree. Primus knows, he advertised for stricter laws for vorns, before writing the Accord as it had been used later on.

This interpretation room was now acting against Prowl and Jazz. Peace had made the mechs see the matters more strictly and interpret them more harshly. And while they were only tried for crimes that had happened in violation of the Accord, they were tried during peace time and under peace time law – and would receive the punishments of a peace time.

Sunflare though wasn't finished yet and managed to force the other lawyers into a discussion about the laws of the Tyrest Accord – a discussion for which the other side was decidedly prepared worse for than the seeker lawyer.

And slowly, but surely Sunflare was winning on the ground that there was no proof by which they could be hold guilty under the Tyrest Accord – which meant that the court had to declare them innocent.

Then, Sunflare did something very unexpected. He said: "We've heard now everything about the view of other mechs on this matter," turned around to his clients and asked: "Prowl, Jazz, could you please tell them now your viewpoint from the moment on in which the first problems of low energon supply appeared?"

Prowl and Jazz exchanged a long look, then the former saboteur relaxed. "Sure, we can. I think for us the whole sad story started with a message that we got from Kup. He told us..."

In precise, slow words they described reports, meetings, conversations and in the end decisions. Never admitting to the attacks on the energon transports, they explained everything else. From the statistics to secret agents and other resources available.

Everything.

For the very first time in history, Cybertronians listened to how the core of the most secret and mysterious organisation of the Autobots had worked – and decided. It was a cold tale, but also one that mentioned surprisingly often the honest goal to save sparks.

Tyrest wondered why now. What made this case so different that they would break their wall of silence?

"As a result, I ordered all Autobots in the whole sector to ration their energon," said Prowl. "Of course, all leaders obeyed officially, but we were well aware that nearly ten percent more energon than allowed was still used. For various reasons."

Jazz chuckled. "Nice description, Prowler, for mechs who didn't give a slag and just ignored what we told them. 'Cause we loved to harass them."

Or maybe... it wasn't different than the dozen of cases before. Maybe, this was exactly the same and they just wanted to prove something. Prove that they had tried? That they had given their best?

He looked at Sunflare again, who animatedly spoke about the tragedy of starvation and how horrible it must have been to be in this situation. The crowd hung on his lips and slowly the arguments of the other lawyers crumpled into nothing.

No. Before the trial everyone had already believed and known that they had given their best. Had tried. This wasn't what was in question here. This was a trial and the only thing that counted here was guilt.

So maybe, they wanted to prove that they could have defended themselves. That they chose to accept the guilt, the blame...

Yes.

And all the bits fell into place and Tyrest understood. Maybe not their goal in its entirety, but their game at least.

Both sides fell quiet and he spoke with his Lower Judges. For once, their decision was not swift. But in the end they had to agree with him and the verdict was written down.

For Prowl and Jazz, this trial had never been about the question if they did the crimes or not. It had been about justice and punishment.

Aequitas confirmed the verdict, and Tyrest sighed. It was also the confirmation of his thoughts.

Reputation, duty, requests and habit had formed a cage, out of which there was no escape. Prowl and Jazz were trapped within their own definition of their existence. Trapped within their own feeling of responsibility and the deep pain their path of wisdom and sacrifice had brought.

This kind of sparkpain would maybe never heal. They had been too young when the war started. They had created themselves too much around this existence. Their own connections ran too deep into everything they had built and destroyed and sacrificed and rescued. They couldn't let go of Cybertron.

Only of themselves.

"The court has decided! In case 56 against the Defendants Prowl and Jazz, they have been found innocent of all charges. So might it be, 'till all are one."

The crowd answered and Tyrest sighed.

What did it matter if he declared them innocent by law if they still felt guilty?